We passed!

Too tired to blog for long, but I have to say this...

Kai's passport has been approved! We can now venture overseas with him!

I'm sure if I start thinking about the logistics involved, I'll get cold feet. But Terence and I are travel-deprived. We agreed that we'll tackle a country that's easy to travel in first, which would have to be Australia. It fits our criteria: easy transpo (i.e. we can drive), everyone speaks English, can get hot water easily.

I marvelled this couple I met in Burma who were travelling with their newborn son. (The guy is an American-born Chinese, and I think the lady is American. They were both working in China when they made the trip to Burma.) Met them first at Inle Lake, and then bumped into them in Mandalay.

They were so blasé about having the baby along; it's almost like they did it everyday of their lives. Now, Burma isn't exactly developed (and hot!). And like Jeanne and I, they were travellers, i.e. hunt for your own lodgings, find your own transpo etc. At that time, I thought they were truly amazing, and wanted to do the same with my kid (when I have one, that is).

I still think they are truly amazing, and i still want to do the same with Kai. But now that I'm actually a mom, I now know what this would entail--lots of guts, preparation, and a sane and calm mind.

(One of my fav photos taken at Inle Lake.)

P/S (Updated at 0021hrs, 8 Jan '07): I just remembered that I didn't meet the couple at Inle Lake. It was at Pagan, where ruins of more than 2,000 pagodas are situated within an area of about 50sq km.

Travel tip: IMHO, travellers should visit Pagan first before visiting the famed Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Both historical sites are just as impressive. But once you see the scale of just one Angkor Wat, you wouldn't be as wowed by the sight of the pagodas tightly scattered across the land as your plane land in Pagan. It's a sight one will never ever forget. Visit Pagan before the military junta "restore" the ruins completely.